Do you want to declare your love for UPPERCASE on your own blog or website? Now you can—and be rewarded for your enthusiasm—with our new referral program. Signing up is easy (you can even use your login info from Twitter, Facebook or Gmail), then grab the code for the graphic that best suits you, put it on your site and that's it! There are also social media links and emails that you can use that will track your referrals. In the beta phase, you will earn $1 on every sale resulting from the link from your referring site. Once you reach $20 or more in commissions, they will be paid out automatically on a monthly basis.

The Suitcase Series Volume 2: dottie angel, now shipping!A Collection a Day by Lisa Congdon, packaged in a collector's tin! Work/Life 2: the UPPERCASE directory of international illustratorsDownload the FREE iphone app!An illustrated storybook for sophisticated children and whimsical adults.

NEW! Shoegazing Notecards curated by Janine Vangool and published by Chronicle Books.

UPPERCASE books are available for purchase in our online shop and in our store. If you are interested in carrying our books and products in your shop, wholesale purchases can be made easily online. Please contact us for more details. info{at}uppercasegallery.ca

The Suitcase Series Volume 1:Camilla Engman

Artist Camilla Engman may live in Gothenburg, Sweden, but her appeal is international. A professional illustrator and exhibiting artist, her images are whimsical, poignant, humourous and insightful. With her keen eye for finding the extraordinary in the everyday, Camilla documents her inspirations and artwork on her popular blog. Nearly 2000 fans visit her site on a daily basis (with three quarters being from North America) to get a glimpse into Camilla’s creative life.

UPPERCASE is proud to have been the first gallery outside of Sweden to feature her work, in our 2005 exhibition “Best in Show”. We are excited to be collaborating on a book of Camilla’s art and life, the first volume in our “Suitcase Series”, to be released in the fall of 2009. I am looking forward to travelling to Sweden next month and meeting Camilla (and her cute dog, Morran) at long last.

The Suitcase Series presents in glorious detail the lives of select artists and designers. The books are image-based, full of artwork, sketchbook pages, beautiful photographs and artifacts from where the artists live and work. Interviews with the artist are included in both their native language and English. The books’ size will be small and intimate, like a diary/sketchbook and each book in the series would have a special treasure added: perhaps a small limited-edition art print, a vellum envelope filled with foreign paper scraps for collage, fabric swatches, etc. The book becomes a precious souvenir of a creative journey shared between the reader and the artist.

For our book and magazine subscribers, you will be receiving the Jen11 and Camilla books as part of your subscription. If you'd like to preorder Camilla's book by itself, click here. All pre-orders will include a unique keepsake of the project.

Jen 11: Eleven artists named Jennifer

More than a million of us were dubbed Jennifer within the span of just fifteen years. From a place of relative obscurity, the name grew on a wave of sudden and unprecedented popularity. We’re starting to learn that the effects of this phenomenon were not entirely trivial. Now as an adult, Jennifer has become targeted as the highly sought after demographic of Generation X. In the business press, we are actually known as The Jennifer Demographic or Jen-eration and are told that “focus should be almost entirely on Jennifer right now as habits of all other segments pale in comparison to hers.”

Most of us have some desire to feel unique, as though we have some authentic expression that is exclusively our own. So when the culture spins out the next trend based on you and your name, it is difficult to make sense of what is genuine. Maybe one truth that my Jen-eration makes visible is the simple reminder that we act collectively, often without even knowing it. Done with the right spirit, this can sometimes be the only way to act. —Jennifer Khoshbin

Available for purchase in our online shop. Wholesale purchases are available here.

Work/Life: the UPPERCASE directory of Canadian Illustration & Photography

Designed and written by Janine VangoolPublished by UPPERCASE

"Being a professional illustrator or photographer is a full-time job that goes beyond the mainstream nine-to-five: tough deadlines mean working through the night and photo shoots might whisk you away to unexpected places. Flashes of inspiration can happen anytime, so your sketchbook is an indispensable appendage. You might spend innumerable hours secluded in your studio, or perhaps you’re a regular at the local coffeeshop. Chances are, your work and your life are one and the same and you wouldn’t have it any other way."

Work/Life is a book celebrating Canadian illustration and photography. Unlike magazine awards annuals or traditional illustration directories that are little more than picture books, our publication delves into what fuels a creative life. Participants were interviewed about their creative focus and artistic technique as well as their inspirations and aspirations. Sketchbook pages, studio shots, inspirational objects and personal photography allow us to peek into their work and their lives.

In addition to being an informative and entertaining book, the goal of the UPPERCASE directory is to promote outstanding Canadian illustration and photography talent to the best clients across North America. Each participant was asked to provide a list of their top ten dream clients and the book will be sent to this master list on their behalf.

Available for purchase in our online shop. Wholesale purchases are available here.

The Shatner Show

Curated & designed by Janine Vangool Essay by Glen Dresser Published by UPPERCASE

From his iconic Captain James T. Kirk through the steely resolve of TJ Hooker, the wisdom of Walter H Bascom, the irreverence of Denny Crane or the seemingly hundreds of smaller roles that have filled his career (one of our personal favorites being the Commander Buck Murdock in Airplane 2), William Shatner has shown an uncanny ability to alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) embrace and transcend those preconceptions about him. Perhaps this is nowhere exhibited better than on his recent musical album with Ben Folds: speaking (not singing, of course) with open candor at times about his fortunes and failings, it becomes clear that the person who has played these characters has so much more to say than the characters themselves. Now in his 76th year, he continues to produce with a voracity and enthusiasm unrivaled by his peers. Whether it s a comedic or dramatic role, a gameshow, voice-work for a documentary or animated program, or even a seemingly lowly breakfast cereal commercial, each thing he touches is elevated to a plane that s all his own.

With playful reverence to this entrancing icon and fascinating individual, UPPERCASE gallery has created The Shatner Show: an exhibition and book of artwork depicting William Shatner, featuring the work of 76 artists and illustrators from Canada and the US. Mr. Shatner has endorsed the project and provided the following statement:

"Every artist has their muse. Leonardo was inspired by the ceiling in the great chapel. Michelangelo found his art in the Italian marble. Who am I to stand in the way of all these fine artists and artisans who want to use my lumpy, aging face for inspiration? Some creators love a great sunset; some have in mind my bloodshot eyes. Nevertheless, out of awe, amusement, or pity, you should come and see this unique show." —William Shatner on The Shatner Show, 2007

Available for purchase in our online shop. Wholesale purchases are available here.